Picture Making and Rule Breaking: April 2011

Several weeks ago, I blogged about the "Supermoon" and that I planned on getting some awesome photos that night. But as weather would have it, not only did I fail at getting those photos, I did not even get to see the giant full moon. Central Iowa was covered by thick clouds that night and for several nights after that. I was very disappointed.

The following photos were taken one week ago on April 16 which was during the next lunar cycle. I figured the moon was just one size smaller than the "Supermoon" and would only continue getting smaller, so I'd give it a try. The thing was, the moon was not fully-full. It was the night before the full moon, but I didn't want to miss my chance on the possibility that it could be too cloudy the next night (and it was). It's not like I was going for prize-winners here--this was a learning experience for me.

So when I got home that night (around 9:30 probably) I bundled up a little more (because it had been a very cold spring day--most of which I spent sitting at my garage sale. brrrr!),

grabbed my tripod,

swapped in my telephoto lens,

and pocketed notes on camera settings for lunar photos (taken when I first blogged about photographing "Supermoon").

I set up my tripod on the side of our dead-end gravel road and said my prayers that Derrick would see me when he came home in the other car.

I experimented with a few different shutter speeds and compositions. Since it was a clear night, I wasn't able to try composing the moon with clouds, but that's ok. Have a look:

You can see to the bottom left of the moon where it was not completely full. However, I think I can actually see more definition of the landscape there--neat.